shaaaauuuun

Hmm....my last post here was back in July. I got pretty rubbish at this again didn't I?

...is what I got when I got bored and typed "grammatically correct nonsense" in Google and was presented with this site.

So this morning, just like any other morning, I was awoken at 5:30 by what I thought was "The Last Post" being played by someone who obviously has nothing better do in the early hours of a Sunday morning than practise their trumpet/bugle skills (head here if you've never heard "The Last Post"). Chantelle thought I was crazy, and I had considered this proposal, seeing as it was after all 5:30 in the morning and I could well have been dreaming it. But no, as I was parking up on our street earlier this afternoon, once again the poignant and tuneful notes of the aforementioned memorial ditty began floating across the street. Maybe I am crazy. Maybe somewhere in my life "The Last Post" has played a rather important part, and is now embedded in the fibres of my, let's face it, messed up consciousness.

We have a new Stake President. His name is Rick van den Dungen Bille. He's a Californian. With a Dutch heritage. Living in Beverley. Presiding over the Hull (and surrounding area) region of the LDS Church. Whilst we're not exactly encouraged to drink, I wouldn't mind having a go at saying "President Rick van den Dungen Bille" after a few shots.

The cat is nowhere to be found. Suspect that aforementioned kitty may be discovered by dishing up some yummy cat food.

Now I'm seeing trees walking out of the neighbour's garden.

All in all a very surreal day so far.

Will keep you posted on the location of the moggy.

Wow it's been a long time since I updated...again.

Time's rolling on quickly and I'm getting excited about the wedding which is now just over three months away...! Chantelle went to Leeds last month and found her dress, and over the last few weeks I've assigned a best man, two ushers, chosen suits for myself, said best man and ushers, had myself and ushers fitted for said suits, rejoiced at the fact that Chantelle has a dress and is now getting her flowers sorted, and I've started looking into caterers.

Breathe.

It's all happening now - I've taken big steps and everything, and in just a few months I'm going to be a married man. Weeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

Chantelle has been in a big cooking/baking mood lately, and I gotta tell you...I'm loving it!!! I've had some pretty darn good salads, chicken strips, tortilla calzones (seriously...try them....they are amazing.....) and I've been her guinea pig for various buns, pies and cakes which I certainly am not complaining about....the best meals and desserts yet have been her Rice Krispie Triangles, Bannoffee Pie, and BBQ Ranch Salad with Cornbread.....until now I had never tried cornbread before, and despite the name, didn't realise that it actually had pieces of corn in it! :)

Our cat has recently started going outside and venturing into the cat-ruled world of Farnley Square, and over the last couple of weeks has become a home for a small family of fleas. Now I'm all for animal rights and equality to all living things and the like, but coming home to clumps of fur and scatterings of black flea remains all over the house is not the most pleasant of experiences, and I can't imagine how icky it must be for Lupin :( But, a few sprays around the house and a few hits and misses with some spray and Frontline treatment for him seems to have done the trick and he's getting better. Occasionally I'll see a little critter or the remains of one dotted around the house, but a quick vacuum and some strategically placed kitchen roll is all it takes to reduce their number by one. Hurrah!

Right now Lupin is snuggled on my lap looking pretty chilled out so I hope they're still not partying in his fur...!

Spoke too soon. Critter spotted on belly. Comb acquired. Cat combed. Critter removed. Woohoo!

Heh, mushroom =D

Well, we've been "allowed" to keep attending church in east Hull (just try and stop us anyway..!! :P) - we decided that we want to move back to that side of the river anyways once the lease on this place is up. Apart from it being an area we both like, we're not really willing to spend too much time and effort on this place, as it's not in the best condition and there's too much work to be done to make it anywhere near the home we'd like to settle in.

I'm also now counting down the days to our holiday/honeymoon kindly arranged and paid for by Chantelle's parents...if you want any idea of the sort of luxury and wonderfulness we're going to experience in September, visit http://www.hotelregencypalace.com/ - it's just amazing =D

My old room at my parents' house has virtually vanished...my brother has turned it into his own little photo studio with lamps and a backdrop, the parents have also acquired space in the corner for some fancy embroidery machine that you can connect to a computer, and my bed has become a small dumping ground...so much for missing me!!

I've just e-mailed the Register Office as time is getting on and we need to arrange to post our notice of marriage to make it all legal and stuff....gotta make it count somehow!!

Life is good...

So it's been a while since I was last here...again!! I've missed this site through moving in, getting organised, playing Mario Kart and generally not doing a whole lot =D

Where to begin? Well, let's start at the start! Me and Chantelle have finally moved into a place of our own, in a little square on Ella Street, off Newland Avenue in the heart of Studentworld in the city centre. The front "garden" needs some work, and there's a need for decoration and tidying, but over the last couple of months we've got stuff sorted and made it our own place - we still have boxes, and even boxes of boxes, but it's our place and we love it...

On 19th April me and Chantelle got engaged, and we are looking at getting married around September of this year. Chantelle's parents have a timeshare apartment in Maderia, and have paid for us to have a week's holiday there so it'd be a perfect time to have our honeymoon!

We were in Hornsea and we were talking about getting married, and how we both really want to do it, and by the end of the day we'd made the decision to get engaged and start planning a wedding...of course, it wasn't official until we'd updated our status on Facebook!! ;)

So far it's been pretty complicated trying to plan it all. At first, we were thinking about hiring a place and then that started to get expensive and messy trying to organise a million different things, and so the talk turned to making it simple, making it our day and using the rest of our time, efforts and money to spend on ourselves and the festivities. When Chantelle's folks offered to put £5,000 towards the wedding, we thought that it was quite a lot of money to spend on a wedding - turns out these days it's just a small chunk of change that would get swallowed up in the process, so keeping it simple also keeps it quite economical...!!

Talk also recently turned to church, and how we both missed being there, the people and the atmosphere of being at church. Over the last couple of weeks or so, it also dawned on me that whilst I started seeing reasons for leaving church, and reasons why it might not be true and so on, what I was actually looking for was an excuse to leave, so I could "take a break" from the burdens, and pressures, and responsibilities of being an active member, an example and "pillar" of the stake so to speak. Truth is, when I first joined the church, I went in all guns blazing, with the mindset of "I've been given a second chance at life and stuff, I'd better be worth it", and ended up putting too much pressure on myself, getting into it all too quickly, and turning myself into someone I didn't really want to be.

Now I've been away, I've had time to reflect on what I'd been away from, and also to reflect on who I've been, who I am, and what I'm doing with my life. I've found now that I can very likely still make it through life going to church and being a part of the experience and the atmosphere, and unerstanding and acknowledging what the church stands for, whilst still being me.

This is what I want to achieve - to be a good person, to try and live a good life, and enjoy and take in the teachings of the church, whilst still being true to myself. We're both looking for a fresh start with a fresh perspective, and I know that I will be taking it easier and steadier this time around so that I can keep myself balanced. I might not agree with absolutely everything, and I'm certainly not perfect, but the church is a good place to be for "life guidance", and I'm willing to try again and do what I can!

We went to Institute on Wednesday night as we'd been invited to a meal prepared by the teacher. It was good to see her and other people again, and we are now considering having the wedding at the chapel in Anlaby. The chapel itself is a really nice room - it has a nice modern feel to it and doesn't look too "churchy", and it also has a bit of an elegant "function room" look to it without looking too much like your average function room....if that makes sense!!

The most important concern we have is getting Chantelle's dress, and now we're on the hunt for good music that isn't Pachelbel's flippin' Canon...it's a lovely piece really, but everyone seems to have it for their wedding, and we want to be different. Ideally we'd like to have someone sing and/or play the music, and we have considered Kissing You by Des'ree, but we're still working on it!

And that brings us to now. Chantelle's working tomorrow, but I've been invited to Hull 1 in Anlaby as they are having a "linger longer" lunch after church, which means I get to meet people and eat food =D officially, we're living in the Hull 1 area so eventually we'll be asked to go to their services rather than Hull 2 if we want to settle in :(

Today was a day spent cleaning and tidying the house whilst Chantelle was at work. We got a four month old Staffie puppy this week but quickly rehomed her again after it turns out Chantelle is allergic to her...we ended up driving to Matlock in Derbyshire, where the new owner's son was to receive the dog for his birthday :) so today was a day to try and clean up dog hair and the like and generally make the place a bit prettier...we have cord carpets so a lot of dust and cat hair gets worn in very quickly, but after a good vacuuming the floors so look a bit better, and it made Chantelle smile when she came in so I must've done good!!

In other news, I've decided not to go to University this year. I've decided that I want to keep working, and I also wondered if it was really worth if for three years if nothing big came out of it...if I decide to go for it I can always apply next year, but if I had decided to go for it this year but then found that I didn't want to do it after all, it would be a bit of a waste really.

I am however still looking for other jobs and careers, as I still don't know what I want to do!! I still consider the Police every now and then, but other than that, I'm still stumped!!! Any ideas or offers greatly appreciated.....

So on Friday night me and Chantelle stayed at Comet till almost midnight along with around 100 other people, answering the phones and taking pledges from people who were calling the Red Nose Day line to donate money...it was fun, there was free food and drink all night, plus pizza, then all manner of buns and cakes, then more pizza, and then more buffet food!! Small children did not stop appearing all night with food, and I left very full - also very happy at the amount of money people were willing to give away for children and people in need here and in Africa, in spite of the financial worries that are happening right now...though I do wish that people sounded happier when they were handing over their card details!!!

Did anyone see the thingy on the Kilimajaro climb?? Man that looked tough, but it was so cool to see that they all made it - even brought a little tear to my eye when they reached the top =D

A slight technical hitch may have put a small damper on the moving - apparently Wardbright wanted Chantelle to give two months' notice when wanting to move out of her flat, and they only told her tonight, which we both agree is a bit silly. When Chantelle first handed her notice letter in, don't you think it might have been useful to let her know that she had to give the longer notice period then, rather than wait until she calls up to chase it?? Anyhoo, Chantelle's looking into her contract tonight to see if it's right - whoever heard of a two month notice period on a flat?? Imbeciles!!

I've recently got addicted to Rock Band and Guitar Hero - what started as a simple "ooh that's cheap, I might get that" moment in Asda (they were selling Guitar Hero World Tour + Guitar for only £34) has led me to be hooked on both games...even had Rich and Simon in on the act over the weekend, Simon recently bought a microphone for the PS2 so we all did a bit of singing - it was painful!!!! But it's all a bit of fun anyway....

Ooh on Chantelle's recommendation I also bought Kingdom Hearts 2 and another RPG by Square called "Valkyrie Profile 2" which according to Chantelle looked good because "I'd never heard of it before but it's an RPG and it's by Square..." Have yet to try both of these wonderful looking games, but will update you tonight once I've had a little faff around on them...I was in a sulk with my PS2 yesterday because I started playing Final Fantasy VIII and it crashed, the PS2 died and I was sad :( maybe I'll forgive it if it will let me play these new games tonight =D

Speaking of Rock Band, through some sort of divine inspiration, I was playing through one of the Bonus Songs on the Solo World Tour mode, and had a little revelation about the church and what made it special to me. I think that some of the appeal was to "escape" from real life, and join up with people who were all doing and aiming for the same thing, to forget about wordly troubles and just to follow God. Truth is, no matter which church or religion you join, real life is always real life, and you can't run away from it....I've tried, believe me!!

Right, will go and try out these funky RPGs and tell you all about them later.............

So, I was watching some of that BBC show "Who Do You Think You Are", and it's got me back into discovering my own family history. I started it ages ago when I was still in the church (which I still count as an amazing resource for family history work...) and it kinda just fizzled away when I started to run out of information.

But now I really want to work on it again, and see if I can get further. I've even joined a Facebook group for people with the surname Collier, and reactivated my old Genes Reunited account to see if I can widen my searches for my ancestors.

Chantelle referred me to a web site called Geni which lets you build your tree, invite people to view it, and it's great for interacting with sites like Facebook and MySpace so you can post regular updates to your tree that your friends can see and so on - and as you can see below it even lets you embed your tree on blogging sites like this one =D

So, back to work for me - I'll let you know how it all goes!!

Thought I'd catch up with a chunk of good news......

Me and Chantelle went to look at a house off Newland Avenue last week - Chantelle fell in love with it when she was doing some noseying around, and I wanted to come along and see, and boom! I wanted it too =D

I could really see myself living in the house, and it has some great little extra special features like a separate little allotment bit that other people have turned into gardens, play areas, patios and so on...and it has three bedrooms, with the third being a sort of "hideaway" bit that we're gonna turn into a quiet study area. It's the sort of house we can settle in for a long time, put a bit of work in and get a lot out of it :)

We filled in the applications, and I found out from Chantelle that the credit reference is done, they're happy that we're not serial killers or vampires, and now they're just waiting for the character references!! I'm excited that we really can have a place of our own, and I'm gonna love living there.... =D

I also got a letter from Hull Uni today offering me a place at the Business School!!! Take that, education - Shaun's coming back to learn stuff hehehe....ooh I'm excited now, I went to the Open Day last week and I have a good feeling about going to uni...there's even an opportunity to go abroad or work with a company after 2 years of study, then go back for your final year, so it's quite a good deal for me....plus going through it opens up a lot of different opportunities and career paths, and after a year you can change your degree or divert a little, so I might want to change my study focus or completely disregard Business and go for something completely different! Mum's dead excited about it and keeps hugging me at every opportunity, telling me how proud she is in that high pitched squeal that mothers launch into when they get excited about their son or daughter doing something amazing...

On Thursday night I went out with some work colleagues to celebrate (right choice of word??) somebody leaving and moving on to be a travel rep. It was the first time I'd done any serious drinking in a long long long time, and the simple pleasures of life, such as a Jack Daniels and Coke, trying to stick your head into everyone else's photo, and trying to go bed with the subtle feeling of goldfish swimming around your head, all came flooding back to me hehe. Of course, people who know me would say I don't need to drink anyway, rather that the drink simply amplifies me, but y'know, a few drops here and there didn't harm, plus Chantelle was impressed at how well I held my drink having not touched a drop for a number of years =D

Having stepped back from church, I do feel a lot more relaxed and free, and in recent times I've been thinking about how I don't really know anything about other religions, or philosophies or disciples from other people or parts of the world. Yesterday me and Chantelle drove to Ikea in Leeds, and on the way dropped into Borders on the same retail park, where I came across books on Wicca, Buddhism, Eastern teachings, and so on, and it got me thinking about just how much I don't know about all these ideas. Each time I have these little "lightbulb" moments I learn more and more towards the view that you don't have to stick to one straight teaching, or one church, or one movement, and that having a learned view of cultures and the world, having good morals and making the most of your life is really what counts....

...in the words of my brother Simon, a day late, admittedly, but still...

On Thursday, me and Chantelle had the day off and we intended to do something or go somewhere, and we ended up making our way to York. Well, so we thought. We got to Bishop Burton, discovered the pond had turned to ice, the poor ducks had precious little water to congregate in, and as we were leaving the village, we thought we spotted a bit of snow. Fast forward to just outside Market Weighton, aaaaand blizzards. Lovely. A quick turn around later, and we were heading back to Beverley, where it wasn't so blizzardy, and we had a chance to wander around the town.

We parked up in Tesco, and after a fit of hysterics thanks to a young girl we overheard telling her friend "...this snow is wet..." we somehow managed to find our way into the town centre, by which time the snow had really hit the area and we almost needed huskies and a sled just to get to any of the shops. After taking in the cute little bookshop and doing our best not to become victims of hypothermia, we discovered Seabrook crisps in Boyes - should really stop pestering Chantelle about the different pronunciation of that name!!! =D - and then went in search of food. We stopped in the King's Head where they do two meals for £8, but I decided that due to a quick change of mind I no longer fancied the choice in there, and we drove back towards Kingswood for Frankie & Benny's...in my (sort of) defense, I did suggest F&B's originally, some time ago, I think, possibly, at some point...

After stuffing ourselves with our meal, we had dessert, during which time I'm sure I saw a few penguins fly past the windows of Frankie & Benny's, we ran like hell to the car, had a wander around Asda, and then the fun began. Rush hour traffic + heavy snow is not a good combination, and it seemed to take us forever to get away from Kingswood via Sutton Fields...then we had to claw our way down Clough Road to make it back to Chantelle's place. Getting home from Chantelle's took me over an hour, thanks to teatime traffic, snow induced slow going, and some interesting traffic arrangements on the Spring Bank/Beverley Road crossroads.

Friday came and went - back at work :( - and by the time I got home I felt a touch of Man Flu coming on, and by the end of Saturday I'm sure I was dying....Saturday being of course Valentine's Day. I'd arranged for some flowers to be sent to work (both me and Chantelle were working that day) and of course they had to show up before I got there....Chantelle was apparently just a little worried that someone other than me had sent them (we'd both agreed not to get each other anything....) which gave me a giggle or two...

So, due to my imminent death, my intention to cook for Chantelle at home and for us to have a night in was cancelled, today was no better, though I seem to have shaken the worst of it off. A couple of Ibuprofens, multiple cups of tea and a round of chocolate seems to have done the trick!! Speaking of which, Mother Dearest has announced the arrival of yet more tea.....

..........

I'm back, armed with said mug of tea, and still with a ham salad sandwich that I made about 15 minutes ago before starting this blog.....ah well, too into writing this to eat, will consume later when I catch up on Hustle...only started watching it a few days ago and I think I might be hooked hahaha..

I'm starting get just a teeny bit excited about moving in with Chantelle - granted it might be quite a way away with us wanting to put a bit of money away and for Chantelle to get through the bulk of her uni work this year, but still, eeee moving out of the home and into a new place with someone is exciting..I've said it before, but it's the little things, like curling up together on the sofa or bed and watching films (I demanded a TV in our bedroom when we get our house lol) or getting our own furniture, stuff like that, plus it means not having to keep saying goodbye and being miles apart, waking up together and being able to come home to Chantelle rather than my parents....eee it's great =D

I think me and Chantelle have really grown closer over these last few months...I think it's being a combination of me opening up more, and her getting to know me and understand me a bit better, we've laughed a lot lately, shared some quiet heart to hearts, and well, I guess just generally enjoyed stuff. The last few months with her have been better than ever, and I grin when I think this time next year I'll be blogging from "our house" =D

Wow, I think that's my lot for tonight, my brain is fried, I want my sandwich, and then I've got to go charge my phone....so long...........

Well, I guess this is regular really...just more of a monthly installment =D

Nothing to report on the university front....still waiting to find out if Hull Uni can put up with me for three years, but I guess it's gonna be a lot about waiting....

Me and Chantelle have been talking about moving in and stuff....we've decided that it's more practical and cost effective if I set up shop in her flat, rather than looking for a new place, finding deposit money, moving her things again and so on...I like her flat, I like the area and I like the cat so I'm happy! Admittedly in recent weeks and months I haven't exactly been very forward thinking or seemingly motivated, but after one or two "heart to hearts" I'm seeing the bigger picture....a few nights ago I was actually thinking "you love her and you tell her this and say you want to get on with stuff, but why haven't you??" and so it's time I got my bum in gear!!

I think that the fact that I have got myself comfortable and settled in a relationship, and maybe even some of the church teachings about planning and routines, helped to "plateau" my own sense of direction, but anyway, I digest...speaking of the church, me and Chantelle recently attended a funeral of an old church member who had battled with varying cancers. After the initial surprise (and in some cases shock) of church members when me and Chantelle walked in (some of them looked like the crowd at a slow moving tennis match...) it was good to catch up with a few people. It's strange how you can be away for long periods of time, and when you come back people who you barely spoke to in the church are all over you asking how you are and what you've been up to...but there were some people there who genuinely care and want to remain friends, and I'd very much like to stay in touch with them if I can.

I've just eaten Potato Waffles with ham and cheese (anyone remember that funky little TV advert?? with the weird bird and the cuckoo noises??") and just finished watching Hustle....I never really watched it before, it caught my eye on the BBC iPlayer and it's pretty good....might get the DVDs of previous series...

Ooh speaking of iPlayer, I watched Terry Pratchett's Alzheimers programme a few nights ago. It's fascinating just what that disease is all about and how it can creep up on people, and it's amazing and quite moving to see how it affects the "little things" in people.

Woo it's chilly up here, though the snow has disappeared around our way :( I get a bit excited when we get snow ("crunchy crunchy...")

Chantelle's birthday was last week, and we discovered the joys of Thai food (it's basically Chinese food, but a little, erm, "greener"...) and I now on the hunt for Thai Cream Soda - it's a lot like those "bubblegum" flavour drinks you used to get for like 10p - anyhoo, during the day we went to X-scape in Castleford, where we walked around the designer outlet, squealed with delight when we found a Burger King, and crunched about a lot in the snow (until Chantelle got snow in her shoes, that is...) i felt like i was 10 again!!!! =D

Which brings us this week...let's see, I got two letters from Halifax asking for money (they've called in my overdraft, mum put a lump sum in my account which I'm-a pay off regularly, and now they sent a red letter for about £97. When this Bank Charges Test Case is finished, I think I'll be asking for a little more than than back thankyou! After I paid them another £50 back, I'm now waiting for the repo man to come knocking at my door for another forty quid =D

Ooh and speaking of bumbling jackasses who couldn't organise a prayer meeting in the Vatican, British Gas have once again screwed Chantelle about...what have they done this time? Nothing! In spite of repeated phone calls, e-mail conversations and the like over the last six or so months, Chantelle is still without a meter, still hasn't got compensation for their previous mess ups, and yet no one has had the decency to contact her. Time to bring out the old complaint letter again mwahahahahaaaaa

Well, that's all she wrote, parents want to get into the loft a la my room, so I'm gonna disappear..

Well I've decided to wade into the fun filled world of UCAS and University applications!! All my personal details are filled in and a bit of employment history has been added, now I've got to back through my certificates and records and whatnot to try and find all my grades, months and years completed and so on...fun! Turns out I only have a couple of days left to apply now, before I have to wait till clearing in August to try and snatch a place!

My plan is to study a Joint Honours in Business and Marketing, but I've also chosen the courses individually should I fail to make it onto my first choice.I've been thinking more and more about the courses I've chosen, and remember just how much I enjoyed Business Studies at school and college...I also had a go on the BBC Bitesize revision website last night to see how much I remembered, and passed all of the tests.....sooo I just wait and see what Hull Uni have to say about me, and see if I'm in.........the advantage to applying now is that I'm "in the queue" and can always reject their offer if something else comes along in the meantime...

(Ooh, wait, I've just remembered, my CV has all my grades and dates on......but they need to know the examining boards aswell.....d'oh!!)

I watched a story on the local news tonight about two brothers who have been sending each other the same birthday card to each year for the last 40 or so years....and each time they've added a few stories or anecdotes from their life over the past year each time....now that's a brilliant idea for a birthday!

Will keep this thing updated with my UCAS progress =D